What passion means to me

When I decluttered my things a bit before the holidays to get ready for the new year, I rediscovered a piece of dry clay, which you can see on the picture to this article. It was a gift from a friend of mine when we were about 18 years old. She made one of these for each of her close friends, inscribing it with the key quality she saw in that person. For me, she chose ‘Leidenschaft’ (passion in German). We have long since lost sight of each other, but as ‘unimpressive’ you might think this piece of clay looks, I have always hung on to it. Finding it again now got me thinking. Out of all the qualities and character traits she could have chosen, why did she choose passion for me? Am I still that passionate person she once saw in me?

At the time, I was pursuing a sport that required a lot of training, commitment and often sacrifice (Friday nights meant training until 10pm instead of going to parties with my school mates). Is that what she meant?

Over the years, my passions have changed, but some things have consistently been a part of my life. This includes my love of books, the desire to put pen to paper myself and the satisfaction that comes from working with my hands.

When it came to choosing my career though, the advice was to learn something that would earn me money. Writing books and painting generally are not considered to fall into that category. So I ended up on a more commercial career path, always talking ‘sense’ into myself whenever these ideas came up again. Things changed when my daughter was born and my commercial career came to a natural end (my own choosing). I was finally in a position to just give it a go. And you know what? I did. I wrote, illustrated and self-published two children’s books for which I received lovely feedback from those who read them. But I’m not good or comfortable with posting on social media. I don’t feel it’s necessary to share every element of my life online or repeatedly post what is essentially the same content to get more exposure. I will post as and when I actually have something new to say. Is that stupid? Maybe. But it’s also more authentic and that’s important to me, same as my art is personal, authentic and important to me.

I am still the committed, hard-working, passionate person that my friend once saw in me all these years ago, but today this passion is less visible, but no less strong. So I’ve decided that I will allow myself to share my passion more openly. Not through constant posting, sales funnels and what have you, but through this blog, which allows me to share my passion, thoughts and progress in a way that feels more natural, authentic and honest to me. No ‘buy now’ button, just me sharing my story in the hope that it will help and inspire some of you. And if you feel you’d like to find out more about my books or my other creations, you are more than welcome to.

I’d love to see you here again soon, and even better, leave a comment below.